Feedback

November 02, 2002

* In response to today's Feedback re: Admiral Dufek, the following was found on the Internet. Note that he became director of The Mariners' Museum, and probably is the same man who lived in the Riverside area of NN some years ago. The career of Admiral George John Dufek in the U.S. Navy included work with the U.S. Antarctic Service, Arctic Task Force 68, Antarctic Operation Highjump and Arctic Task Force 80. After 1955, Dufek commanded Operation Deep Freeze, which provided support for U.S. International Geophysical Year research programs, and in 1956 he also became U.S. Antarctic Projects Officer. After retiring in 1959, he became director of The Mariners' Museum.

Editor: We had several callers point out that Admiral Dufek lived in Newport News and headed the museum. We actually had the information in our archives, but didn't set the parameters of the search correctly.

* John, Hampton: Reference Feedback article from John (Newport News), Nov. 1 edition, asking about the FedEx truck accident. I pulled the information off the FedEx Web site, and I saw it on Fox news. It was an 18-wheeler pulling a double trailer. Both trailers were destroyed. It was in the St. Louis, Mo., area.

* Beth, Yorktown: Reference your TV section Sunday and Friday. Your Doctor Madblood thing in Friday's paper says Friday night Fight and it should say Friday Night Fright. It is not fair to bill him as a wrestler instead of a horror show master. I've called twice and you have yet to change this. I'd appreciate it if you would fix this.

Editor: We will correct it. Thanks for the note.

* I understand that Jam Master Jay was really good, but you have him on the front page and on the second page. Can't you do one or the other, or do just you not have enough to put anything else in there?

Editor: We did that because of the important role he played in the origins of one of today's most popular music forms. The stories were about different aspects of his life and death.

* Mary, Williamsburg: We understand that the Daily Press and Virginia Gazette are handled by the same people. We are not getting information in the Daily Press that is covered in the Virginia Gazette, and we do not subscribe to the Gazette.

Editor: Actually, the two newspapers aren't run by the same people, even though they share joint ownership. The newsroom staffs are completely separate and distinct. In fact, there remains as much competition for the news between the two papers as there was before the Gazette was purchased.

* K.J., Hampton: Jim Spencer incorrectly used the word "chutzpah" in Friday's column. Chutzpah is a bad thing. A police officer wanting a search warrant at 3 in the morning isn't an example of chutzpah.

Editor: We looked it up. It means shameless audacity or brass. That's not always a bad thing.

* There have been many comments in Feedback about the absence of high school scores in your sports pages. I have a suggestion: Appoint a student reporter in each school to report sports news (or other school news) via e-mail or fax to an editor as the events occur. It would be a good internship for some future journalist and you would have more coverage of the school programs. (Of course, you may receive more news than you care to get, but you can print the more important and file the all other.)

Editor: We have looked into that in the past and have asked for volunteers but received few replies. We are going to reconsider it some time in the future.